Imitative behavior

This article reviews the results of experimental studies on imitative behavior reported by various investigators, and then discusses the possible brain mechanisms responsible for this behavior. It was found that human infants in their first hours of life were already capable of spontaneous imitation of simple motor acts demonstrated by an adult, without previous training or reward; these observations suggest that imitative behavior is an innate process that can be considered anunconditional reflex of imitation. It was also found that satiated animals resumed eating when they saw their companions eating. In the latter case, the imitative reflex triggered the previously acquired feeding behavior. Similar mechanisms could be responsible for the phenomenon of eating more in the presence of companions than in their absence, as well as that of preferring the food chosen by companions. When followed by a reward, the imitative act can be learned—that is, transformed into aninstrumental conditional response; learning by imitation of simple motor acts was observed in animals, and that of complex motor acts was observed in children who had already achieved a certain developmental stage. In animals, learning complex motor tasks was facilitated by previous observation of a companion performing this task. In this case, the presence of the observer during the session could lead to habituation of the experimental situation and production of associations between this situation and stimuli or emotions related to the reward or punishment, and might result in more efficient learning later. The imitative behavior can be inhibited by stimuli producing responses antagonistic to the act of imitation.     

The problem of switching in conditional behavior

This article reviews studies of various authors on the phenomenon of “switching,” which is observed in both classical and instrumental conditioning and consists in elicitation of different responses to the same conditional stimulus (CS) when it is applied in an environment different than the original one. The different responses include a decrease or an absence of the previously trained conditional response (CR), elicitation of an appetitive response instead a defensive one, or vice versa, as well as elicitation of two different instrumental CRs in the same trial. The studies suggest that, due to the repeated occurrence of CS in the same environment (E), also called “situation” or “context,” associations are formed between CS and E. Consequently, the CR is elicited to a compound CS+E rather than to CS alone. When the CS is applied alone in a different E than the original one, the previously formed associations are inactive and the CR cannot be elicited; this leads to switching. Studies also suggest that E plays a dominant role in conditioning compared with that of CS alone, which often appears to be only a trigger for eliciting the response. However, CS tested in a different E may still produce some components of the previously acquired CR, such as a general fear behavior to an originally defensive CS or an approach behavior to an originally alimentary CS. The environmental stimuli can be considered the “determining” stimuli that determine the kind of reaction to be elicited, or “tonic” stimuli that increase the tonus in the brain but do not elicit the CR. The “determining” or “tonic” stimuli do not seem to be a special class of stimuli. Instead, they are stimuli that initially can produce the CR (e.g., intertrial CRs), but by being not reinforced they become partly inhibited; nevertheless, due to associations with the reinforcement, they still can produce some excitement related to it, thus facilitating the CR.     

Sentences with Strong Psychological Impact in Psychotherapy: Research in Progress

After a brief exposition of Elementary Pragmatic Model about changes in dyadic interactions, the validity and clinical usefulness of the model was evaluated with a newly created test, called SISCI-Sentences. This test is composed of 90 Sentences with strong psychological impact. Administration of this test to non-clinical and clinical participants produced statistically significant differences between the choices of participants in the two groups. Implications of these results for the use of these Sentences in the course of psychotherapy are discussed.

Prime, Frame, and Source Factors: Semantic Valence in Message Judgment

Healthcare communication is an area that offers great benefits in the promotion of preventive health behavior. Given that physical activity can significantly reduce risk factors that are associated with major chronic diseases, it is paramount to examine the promotion of physical activity through appropriate message designs. This study employs priming theory, the framing postulate of prospect theory, and the source factor to examine effective message design in the promotion of exercise. Overall, it shows that semantic consistencies between prime and frame, as well as frame and source, are more conducive to message persuasion. Hence, the contention of framing by the type of health behavior ( Rothman & Salovey, 1997 ) is moderated by prime and source factors.     

Are NFL Arrestees Violent Specialists or High Frequency Offenders or Both?

Although recent research showed that NFL players have a higher violent crime arrest rate, it remains unclear whether, at the individual-level, NFL players who are arrested are specializing in violent crimes or whether their involvement in violence is driven largely by their high frequency of offending. Using two publically available databases on NFL player arrests, our results show that high frequency offending is rare among the arrested NFL players, that non-white players are more chronic than white players, and that the likelihood of violence is largely driven by high frequency offending—especially among non-white players. Importantly, there appears to be no specialization-in-violence among this sample of arrested NFL players.     

Black Boxing Restraints: The Need for Full Disclosure and Consent

In this article we discuss the necessity of fully informing patients and their families of what constitutes physical interventions and their attendant risks under the established principles and obligations of informed consent. After a brief review of the elements of informed consent and the nature of the duty to advise patients and their families of treatment risks, we argue that physical interventions are an unvalidated treatment for aggressive and violent behavior and should be used only as a safety intervention. We focus our discussion on the informed consent issues for school aged children, adolescents, and emancipated minors and contend that if restraints are used they must pose less risk than the behavior they are trying to alleviate. We also opine that if restraints are misused by mental health or child welfare treatment settings, then their misuse may be considered a subject of a patient maltreatment, abuse, criminal or civil action. A central thesis of the article is that informed consent must be seen as an integral and dynamic process of treatment. We recommend strategies that gain parental permission and child assent, that view informed consent as a dynamic and individualized process that aids and supports the therapeutic relationship, and that stress the importance of simplicity and clarity.     

Vocabulary Self-Selection: A Study of Middle-School Students' Word Selections from Expository Texts

This study investigated students' decision-making as they self-selected important words from expository texts. Participants were 94 eighth graders and six adult readers. Data sources included students' written responses containing their word selections and reasons for selecting words from eight informational passages, student interviews, and word selections of adult readers. We examined the students' reasons for their word selections and compared their words with those selected by adult readers. Results indicated the following: 1) students of varying reading abilities can self-select important words in an expository passage; 2) students' reasons for selecting words differed from reasons found in related studies; and 3) variability exists across individual students and across adult readers in selecting important words in expository passages.     

Erratum to: Sensory Nature of Reward

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science -